Gasoline-can stopper



Dec. 14.1926. 3 1,616,908

E. WESTPHAL GASOLINE cm STOPPER Filed. Oct. 30. 1925 Wye/rim:-

Patented Dec. 14, 1926.

UETE STATES ERIK WES'III-IAL, OF ROOSEVELT, NEW

GASOLINE-CAN STOPPER.

Application filed October 30, 1925.

This invention relates to improved means for stopping the mouths of five-gallon or other large cans in which gasoline is supplied in bulk to dealers and large consumers.

These bulky gasoline cans are transported on trucks, and are therefore frequently exposed, sometimes for long periods, to rain and snow; and, after a long trip, it often happens that complaints are made by the users of the quality of the gasoline, its inferiority being ascribed to the admixture of rain or melted snow therewith. This trouble is not overcome by the usual tapering wooden stoppers, even though they are forced tightly into the months or necks of the gasoline cans preparatory to out-of-door transportation.

The object of this invention is to overcome the aforesaid difliculty, and prevent any possibility of the rain or melted snow finding its way down past the stopperand into the can.

Other features and advantages will here-- inafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a part-sectional elevation of a gasoline can provided with the present improvements.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a stopper detached from the can.

Figure 3 is a view of the improved stop per in a different form from the other figures.

Figure i is a sectional plan showing how the skirt at Figure 1 can be made by rolling up a piece of sheet-metal and overlapping the meeting edges.

Figure 5 is a view of a form of the invention in which the wooden shoulder has less diameter than at Figure 2; the skirt being of the form seen at Figure 3, and being attached directly to said wooden shoulder as at Figure 1.

In the cylindrical neck or mouth 10 of the gasoline can 11 is forced a wooden stopper 12, having a slight taper, the tapering portion 13 being ofstandard length, and accommodating small variations in the diameter of the mouth of the can. There is a surplus length of taper, making the stopper suitable for extra large mouths, and also tending to contribute to the length of life of the stopper.

Above this tapering stopper portion 13 there is formed in the wooden stopper a shoulder 14, whose diameter may be greater Serial No. 65,762.

than the outside diameter of the mouth 10 of the can; this shoulder being preferably integral with the stopper itself. Upon this shoulder is secured by its top a pendent cylinder 15, preferably of sheet metal, which forms a skirt which extends far below the top of the mouth 10 of the can, even when the stopper is inserted for its minimum effective distance into the can. The joint 16 be tween the top of the skirt andthe shoulder of the stopper is permanently water-tight, so that no rain or snow can possibly find access inside of the skirt or to the mouth of the can.

Preferably the skirt is strengthened at its top edge by a band or strip 17 of metal,-

as by rolling over the edge of the cylinder. This gives strength at the edge where the skirt is attached to the shoulder. It is also strengthened by turning over the bottom edge of the skirt to form a band 18. The skirt may be secured upon the stopper by means of pins, nails or screws 19 passing through the reinforcement '17 at the top, and forced into the wood.

Above the shoulder there rises a knob 20 which is integral with the stopper, for convenience in withdrawing and inserting the same. o

In one form of the invention the wooden shoulder may be omitted as shown by Fig. 3 or may have less diameter, as shown by Fig. 5 and the skirt may be attached directly to the body 21 of the stopper above the tapered portion 13, the skirt having a bell shape 22, terminating at its top edge in an integral ferrule 23, which is secured tightly or forced upon the body 21 of the stopper. The skirt 22 may have its bottom reinforced by an outturned or inturned fold 24. Any ad ditional means may be employed for securing the ferrule tightly upon the stopper, as, for instance, by using a fastening pin 25.

The invention is not limited to gasoline cans, but may be used for kerosene cans and oil cans wherever it is desired to prevent rain and snow from mixing with the oil.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A wooden stopper for gasoline cans,

including a tapered portion, a shoulder,

above said tapered portion, and a skirt rigidly secured upon said shoulder to make a weathentight joint therewith and extending down below the top edge of the mouth 01'': the can and preventing the access of rain and snow thereto. 7

2. A wooden stopper for a gasoline can, including a tapered portion, a shoulder above said tapered portion, and a skirt secured upon said shoulder and extending down below the'top edge ofthe mouth of the can and preventing access of rain and snow thereto, said shoulder formed integral with said stopper, and an integral knob or handle above said shoulder.

3. A wooden stopper for a gasoline can. including a tapered portion, a shoulder above said tapered portion, and a skirt in the form of a short metal tube secured rigidly at its upper end to said shoulder to make a weather-tight joint therewith and extending down'below the top edge of the mouth of the can and preventing access of snow and rain thereto.

'4. A wooden stopper for a gasoline can, including, a tapered portion, a shoulder above said taperedportion, and a skirt rigidly secured upon said shoulder to make a weather-tight joint therewith and extending down below the top edge of the mouth of the can and having a reinforcement at its bottom edge.

A gasoline can stopper having a tapered portion, a knob fixed to said tapered portion,

'7. A gasoline can stopper having a tapered portion, a knob, and an intervening water'- proor" rigid skirt extending down below the top of the mouth of the can, said skirt in the form of a bell attached to said stopper between the tapered portion and the knob and having at its to an integral'ferrule which is tightly secured upon the body of the stopper.

ERIK WESTPHAL. 

